HOW FLYING ROBOTS MIGHT PREVENT DEFORESTATION - SUMMARY DRAFT #2

By Chen Jian Yeow

1st Feb 2021

According to the article "The Flying Robot Might Prevent Deforestation" (Morgen E. Peck,2012), flying drones are key in acting as a lookout to prevent and stop illegal activities in a forest. Illegal deforestation and fires were one of the events affecting the rainforest in Brazil. Peck suggests that drug trafficking and mining were also made to be easier due to low-level surveillance in the rainforest. Peck proposes the use of Quadrotor drones to navigate through the rainforests, acting as a lookout for illegal activities that are happening. Peck underlined the fact that Quadrotor drones in 2012 were capable to fly from side to side, avoid obstacles and even learn and adapt to changes on the go. Additionally, Quadrotor drones are able to sense the environment without direct connection to other drones, the goal of this project is to reduce or stop illegal activities. However, one key concern would be that the drones could potentially cause harm to the wildlife that its suppose to protect.

What improvement could be made to enable Quadrotor drone for night time use? :Thermographic cameras, Infrared sensor, high lumen floodlights.

Reference

Peck, M.(2012). How Flying Robots Might Prevent Deforestation, http://mashable.com/2012/03/20/flying-robots-deforestation/